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PLATFORM 



FOR 



ALL PARTIES. 



HY 



AUSTRO- BOB B A. L I S . 



* Quid est Republica nisi Res Populi ? 

Cicero, Be Repub. 
What is the Commonweal but the People's Weal? 

A.— B. 



* 



BALTIMORE: 

J. P. DES FORGES 

1860. 



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Quid est Rcspublica nisi Res Populi? • 

Ciceho, De Repub. 
What is the Commonweal but the People's Weal? 

A.— B. 



BALTIMORE: 

J. P. DES FORGES. 
1860. 



.s * 



WILL YOU MANTAIN AND SET FORWARD, AS MUCH AS LIETH IN YOU, 
QUIETNESS, PEACE, AND LOVE, AMONG ALL CHRISTIAN PEOPLE, AND ESPECIALLY 
AMONG THEM THAT ARE OR SHALL BE COMMITTED TO YOUR CHARGE? 

I WILL SO DO, THE LORD BEING MY HELPER. 

Form and Maimer of Ordering Priests. 



PRELIMINARY. 



It will be inferred from the quotation on the back of the title page that the 
writer is a clergyman ; a Clerical Platform, therefore, may not be out of place 
to begin with. 

1. A clergyman is a citizen, and, as such, has the same rights as other citizens, 
though it may not always be advisable to exercise them. 

2. It is proper for a clergyman to petition Congress, or the State Legislature, in 
his clerical capacity, respecting what concerns him purely in that capacity. Thus, 
clergymen in Maryland petitioned the Legislature for a modification of a section of 
the Marriage law, which bore hard on them as the authorized, and, in that State, 
the sole authorized solemnizers of the marriage rite. 

3. It is not proper for a clergyman to petition Congress, or the State Legislature, 
in his clerical capacity, respecting what concerns him only as a citizen. The 
"three thousand New England clergymen" might have petitioned Congress in 
their capacity of citizens, and along with their fellow-citizens, though, even then, 
it might have been a fair question for them whether they would not thereby 
be lessening their influence as clergymen. 

4. A clergyman has no right to prostitute the pulpit to the purposes of the ros- 
trum or the stump. 

5. If, as a citizen, he has any thing to say to his fellow-citizens, that is worth 
saying, and can find time to say it without neglecting other duties, there is no 
reason why he should not say it. 

Whether what follows is worth saying must be left to others to determine. 

Catonsville, Md. E. J. S. 



PLATFORM. 



Every age has its characteristic. The present is the age of Plat- 
forms. Each new party inaugurates itself upon a new one, and each 
old party, every four years, trundles out the old one ; takes out, here 
and there, a rotten or a broken plank, and puts a new one in its place, 
sometimes of hard oak, sometimes of soft pine— very soft. 

We are now in the latter half of the eighteenth lustre of the Repub- 
lic, and the platform-building season is again upon us. Already the 
sound of the saw and the hammer may be heard, and ere long master- 
builder, journeyman, and prentice, will be hard at work, from Maine 
to California. 

The truth is, this platform-building is getting to be an expensive lux- 
ury. Can there not be found some economical succedaneum, — a pe- 
rennial platform, in place of the quadrennial. Thomas, Richard, and 
Henry build platforms. Why should I be the only modest man in the 
community? I will build one, too. 

My platform shall consist of four planks, a Naturalization plank, a 
Territorial plank, a Presidential plank, and an Administrative plank. 
These four planks fairly and squarely put together into a platform, and 
the people fairly and squarely on it, and Demos will no longer be the 
pack-horse of peculating politicians. 

1. The NatAiralization Plank. — Wliat the chief captain said to St. 
Paul, our naturalized fellow-citizens may say each of himself: " With a 
great sum obtained I this freedom;" not, however, as in the chief 
captain's case, with a great sum of money, but at the incomparably 
greater cost of cutting loose from old associations, of sundering the 
ties of kindred and country, of undergoing the hardships and perils of 
the middle passage, and of feeling one's self, for a time at least, a 
stranger in a strange land. Surely they who have gone through all 
this to secure to themselves what is ours by birthright, should be sub- 
jected to no unnecessary restrictions, and, above all, to no invidious 
distinctions. Grive them their political regeneration, the new-birth of 
American citizenship, as the Church gives those who come to her from 
the world the new-birth of the kingdom of grace, the citizenship of 



6 

Heaven, as the Apostle calls it,* and the old allegiance will he cast 
off, old habits of thought and feeling outgrown, old associations for- 
gotten, and the new-born heir of freedom will grow up steadily into 
"the measure of the fullness of the stature" of the "perfect man." 

If there are evils connected with our present system of naturalization, 
let them be got rid of, but not at the expense of introducing greater 
evils in their place. 

One evil there undoubtedly is, — that of naturalizing large numbers 
on the eve of an exciting election, the politicians paying the fee, and 
then marching the new citizen to the polls to vote as they may direct. 

A slight change in the naturalization laws, and one to which, it 
seems to me, no one, whether native or foreign born, can fairly object, 
would do away, practically, with nine-tenths of the evil. Nearly all 
the elections, on the eve of which these wholesale naturalizations take 
place, are held in the autumn. Let, then, the law be altered so as to 
allow the granting of naturalization papers only in the winter and 
spring, and perhaps a part of the summer, say from the first of Decem- 
ber to the first of July, with a proviso that those whose term of proba- 
tion expired between the first of July and the first of December might 
be naturalized the preceding June. 

Such is the alteration I propose. Adopt it and the term of probation 
instead of being extended, may be safely reduced to a single year, for 
none will apply for naturalization but such as value the privilege 
enough to pay the fee themselves, and this will be a practical limiting 
of it to the intelligent, the industrious, the deserving. 

And now, that the naturalized vote is so nearly equally divided be- 
tween the two great political parties, is the time to make the alteration. 
May I not, then, confidently appeal to every member of Congress to 
plant himself, at once, on this plank of my platform. 

2. The Territorial Plank. — We hear a great deal about "Popular 
Sovereignty," "Congressional Intervention," and this, that, and the 
other; and men's minds have been not a little mystified on the subject. 
And yet it is, after all, a very simple one. Congress has the power to 
"exercise exclusive legislation" over the Territories, whether you 
derive that power from the 3d section of the 4th article, or the 2d 
Bection of the 2d article. But the power of exclusive legislation does 
not imply sovereignty. Congress is not sovereign. The States are the 
sovereign, exercising their sovereignty through the Constitution, or by 

♦Phil. 3:20. Gr. UoXi'rt vptt. 



an alteration thereof with the concurrence of the Legislatures, or con- 
ventions of three-fourths of them. Congress can legislate for a Terri- 
tory within the limits of the Constitution ; no other body can legislate 
for it at all, except as the agent, or locum tenens, of Congress; and then 
only within the same limits. For surely what Congress cannot do, 
tliat the Territorial Legislature, which is its creature, cannot do, either. 

We are told, indeed, by Judge Douglas, and the declaration is en- 
dorsed by "A Southern Citizen," that "it is the right and duty of 
Congress to organize the people of the Territories into political com- 
munities," and that, when so organized, they have " the inherent right 
of self-government," derived to them, however, not by Congress, but 
by the 10th article of the Amendments to the Constitution. His words 
are, "'Inasmuch as the right to govern the people of the Territories, in 
relation to their internal polity, is not delegated to Congress, it neces- 
sarily follows that it is 'reserved to the people' until they become a 
State, and from that period to the new State, in the same manner as to 
the other States respectively." And again, "Those (powers) which 
are municipal and domestic in their character, are 'reserved to the 
States respectively, or to the people,' — 'to the States' in respect to all 
of their inhabitants, and ' to the people ' of the Territories prior to 
their admission as States." That is to say, the phrase " to the people," 
had reference to the Territories, and not to the States. If this be so, 
the language of the article shows a sad falling off from that of the 
original Constitution, which is remarkable for its perspicuity and pre- 
cision. To convey the meaning here ascribed to it, it should have 
read, " are reserved to the States respectively or to the several 
Territories" 

Let us see if we cannot find a more natural interpretation. " The 
powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor 
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to" the constituted authori- 
ties of "the States respectively, or to the people," who created those 
constituted authorities, conferring on them certain powers, and reserv- 
ing to themselves certain other powers, either to be held in abeyance, 
or to be exercised by themselves in propriis personis. This is the 
natural and obvious interpretation. The 10th article refers to the 
people of the States alone ; had it been intended to refer to the Terri- 
tories it would have specified them by that designation. Our fathers 
weighed their words and measured their language. 

But even on Judge Douglas's own showing, his interpretation is not 



the true one. "Every 'right of property, private relation, condition 
or status, lawfully existing' in this country," says he, "must of neces- 
sity he a rightful subject of legislation by some legislative body. 
Where does this sovereign power of legislation for the Territories 
reside ? It must be in one of two places — either in Congress or in the 
Territories. It can be nowhere else, and must exist somewhere." 

Again, "The people of the Territories cannot exercise the right of 
self-government until Congress shall have determined that they have 
people enough to constitute a political community, that they are ca- 
pable of self-government, and may be safely intrusted with legislative 
power." 

Put that and that together, and it follows clearly that Congress has 
the same "power of legislation for the Territories" before the passage 
of the "organic act" that the Territorial Legislature has after it; in 
other words, the same power of. legislation as for the District of Colum- 
bia; that is to say, the power "to exercise exclusive legislation in all 
cases whatsoever," subject only to the limitations of the Constitution. 

Such is the power of Congress in the premises. How it shall exer- 
cise that power, — whether solely by enactments of its own, or also by 
creating a Territorial Legislature, and if the latter, to what extent it 
shall confer the legislative power on such Legislature, are questions to 
be determined on altogether different grounds. 

The whole genius and spirit of our institutions is on the side of local 
self-government to the greatest extent compatible with "the general 
welfare." What that extent is, must be determined in each particular 
instance by the exigencies of the case. 

lY.xticillv. there would be no difficulty, but for one disturbing cle- 
ment. Of course, I refer to slavery — the great bone of contention 
between North and South ; and none the less so, now that all the meat 
has been so nearly gnawed off from it; no dog likes to have even the 
bare bone taken nut of his mouth. 

We are often told that the Fathers of the Republic had no liking for 
slavery, and that though they tolerated it as a temporary evil, they 
looked confidently to its early extinction by the action of the several 
State Legislatures. Whether that be so or not, — and their express 
permission of the foreign slave trade to the States then existing does 
not look much like it, — they certainly did not look to a warring upon 
the institution by the Northern States. On the contrary, they looked 
to the cultivation of a spirit of brotherly love among the several mem- 



9 

bers of the confederacy. How little the event has answered their ex- 
pectation I need not say. The North is arrayed against the South, and 
the South against the North, and crimination and recrimination are the 
order of the day. 

It was not always so. For the first thirty years, Territories were 
organized, and States admitted into the Union, without any restriction 
as to slavery except such as existed prior to the adoption of the Consti- 
tution. In this way, during that period, no less than five slave States 
were added to the Union. But when, in 1819, Missouri, which seven 
years before had been organized as a slave Territory by the deliberate 
act of Congress, (See Benton's Debates, vol vi, p. 431,) and had 
grown up as such under the sanction of that body, came, with a Con- 
stitution the natural and appropriate, and, indeed, necessary result of 
such a State of society, knocking for admission into the Union, the 
door was shut — say rather, slammed — in- her face ; and not till the fol- 
lowing session, and then at the expense to the South of the so-called 
Missouri Compromise, did she obtain admittance. 

Here was a deliberate violation of plighted faith. He who know- 
ingly raises expectations — and this is as true of States as of individuals 
— is bound in honor to fulfil them. In this case, Congress practically 
said to Missouri : While you were a Territory we had, in our opinion, 
entire control over you, and there/ore we let you do as you pleased ; 
but now you are about to become a State, and we shall have no control 
over you, and there/ore we loont let you do as you please. Was ever 
such reasoning before ? What business was it to Congress what insti- 
tutions the sovereign State of Missouri had, so they were "Republi- 
can," within the meaning of the Constitution? 

The North having thus sown the wind, has, for the last five years, 
been reaping the whirlwind. Had she kept to her plighted faith, there 
would have been no Missouri Compromise to repeal, and the country 
would have been spared all this agitation, and the ill blood consequent 
upon it. Kansas would have filled up slowly but surely, with Northern 
men, and Northern institutions, and would, ere this, have taken her 
place among the free States of the Union, instead of being still kept 
waiting, by a sort of poetic justice, as Missouri was kept waiting, forty 
years ago. A higher law than man's determines the question of slavery 
or no slavery, and it is vain to fight against it. Under its operation 
the Indian Territory belongs to slavery; so do New Mexico and 
Arizona, — together 359,000 square miles. All the rest, 1,203,000 in 



10 

all, is freedom's ; so declared to be by Senator Chesnut in his speech 
at Camden, S. C, a few weeks since. (See K. T. Times, Oct. 3.) 
Add to these the number of square miles of the free States and the 
slave States, respectively, and you have half a million more for freedom 
than for slavery; and even if you put Utah with the South, (where it 
does not belong, and cannot be made to belong,) you but strike an 
even balance between the two. Why should not the North be satisfied 
with this? Why should she insist on the lion's share? She must 
know she cannot get it while the South retains a particle of self-respect. 
Too long, already, has she been enacting the part of the North Wind 
against the traveller's cloak, and with a similar result; let her now try 
the effect of a little of the genial sunshine of brotherly love. My word 
for it, she will gain more by it than by continuing her present course 
till doomsday. What is the use of all this agitation ? Has it extended 
the area of freedom ? Has it narrowed that of slavery? Can it do it? 
Is it not, then, worse than idle? And can a Christian man have any 
thing to do with it? Suppose the system of slavery as bad as represented, 
why should we by our meddling make it worse ? I speak as a North- 
ern man, Northern born. And we shall make it worse ? We have 
made it worse already. God sees all the evils of slavery more clearly 
than we see them ; and yet he bears with it. Patiens quia JEternus, 
says St. Augustine. Why should not man, the heir of immortality, be 
patient too? Leave to the brawling infidel, who "struts his little 
hour on life's brief stage," a life, " solitary, nasty, and short,"— to fret 
and fume over temporary, individual, evils, that are slowly, but surely, 
working out the regeneration and salvation of a race. 

Slavery has not brought the American negro dmtm to his present 
level, as so many at the North seem to think. If it had, no words of 
condemnation would be too strong for it; it would deserve, as it would 
receive, the execration not only of every Christian, but of every honor- 
able and high-minded man. On the contrary, it lias brought him vp 
to his present level from the deepest degradation, and is still elevating 
him with each successive generation. It has made him all he is, and 
all he hopes for, in this life, and in the life to come. This is its one suffi- 
cient justification before God and man. Certainly Freedom cannot 
show such justification yd, in Ilayti or in Jamaica; and till it does, 
we may be well content to leave things as they are. In this way only 
shall we be doing as we would be done by. The Constitution puts two 
restrictions upon slavery, and only two, and on the well-known prin- 



11 

ciple of legal interpretation, Expressio unius est exclusio alter ins — a 
principle recognized by implication (since exceptio prohat rcgulam) in 
the ninth article of Amendments — Congress has no right to add a third. 
The restrictions are found in article 1, section 2, paragraph 3, which, 
in determining the basis of representation, counts five slaves equal to 
but three freemen, and section 9, paragraph 1, which confers on Con- 
gress the power to prohibit the foreign slave-trade, after a certain time 
— a power which that body exercised at the earliest moment. The 
prohibition is still on the statute-book, and there it will remain. We 
hear, indeed, a great deal of talk about repealing it, but it is nothing 
but talk ; the interests of the five slave States farthest north, and of the 
majority of slave owners in the other ten, are a guarantee of its per- 
petuity. As to the allegation that the prohibition is a reflection upon 
slavery, it is a palpable non sequitur ; for, in the first place, it may be 
enacted from considerations of expediency; and, in the second place, 
the right to keep men in slavery does not imply the right to reduce 
them to that condition. I have no right to shut a sane man up in a 
madhouse till, by brooding over his wrongs, he becomes really mad ; 
(this is not an imaginary case;) but when he has become mad, even 
though it be by my doing, I have a perfect right to keep him shut up. 
I use this comparison not as indicating the effect of slavery on the 
negro, for it does not do that, but to illustrate the single point that the 
right to keep a man in a certain state or condition does not argue the 
right to reduce him to that state or condition. 

Equally idle is it to make the repeal of the prohibition a point of 
honor. If the honor of the South was not safe in the hands of the 
Rutledges, the Pinckneys, and the Butlers, who subscribed their names 
to the Constitution in witness that it was "done in convention, by the 
unanimous consent of the States present," among which was every 
Southern State, it will hardly be safer in the hands of its self -constitu- 
ted guardians of the present day. 

But there is another point of view from which this subject may be 
regarded. At present, the high price of the negro is his protection; 
worth more to him as such than all the provisions of the statute-book. 
It secures to him kind treatment and consequent elevation, physical and 
moral, in the scale of being. But bring in a horde of barbarians and 
you rapidly deteriorate him, not only by that evil communication which 
corrupts good manners, but by lowering his market value, and thereby 
making it the interest of his master to use him solely as a means to an 



12 

end, as the Cuban master is using his negroes at the present moment. 
Now, no man has a right thus to use his fellow man ; and no legisla- 
tive body has a right to tempt him thus to use him. This is the teach- 
ing not merely of Christianity, but of the commonest morality.* 

Let us hear no more, then, of this talk about reopening the slave- 
trade. If it is meant in earnest, it is very foolish, for there is not the 
slightest chance of success; if it is meant in joke, to goad the anti-sla- 
very feeling of the North, it is very foolish, none the less, and very 
wicked into the bargain. 

The other restriction, which counts but three-fifths of the slaves in 
determining the ratio of representation, is very commonly looked upon 
at the North as not a restriction of the power slavery, but an enlarge- 
ment. And yet it is a restriction, as is clear from the fact that if the 
South were to abolish slavery, she would thereby add to her basis of 
representation more than a million and a half, and that, too, without 
the slightest extension of the right of suffrage. She has now five rep- 
resentatives in Congress on the basis of her free negro population ; if 
she were to enslave that population, as she is talking of doing in some 
of the States, she would have but three. 

If it be said that the slaves ought not to be counted at all, because 
they are not citizens, I answer that the North has now, and has had for 
the last ten years, and will have for a long time to come, a floating popu- 
lation of some three millions of unnaturalized foreigners, every one of 
whom counts, and not merely three-fifths; and yet not one of them is 
a citizen or has a vote, except in some of the Western States, and, 
then, against the spirit, if not the letter of the Constitution. 

These are the only restrictions on slavery in the Constitution, and on 
the principle already cited, Fxjircssio unius, &c, which is the prin- 
ciple of common sense, as well as law, Congress has no right to ad<J 
another. 

This, then, is my Territorial plank, the status quo of the early days 
of the Republic, when Territories were organized, and States were 
admitted, with or without slavery, and no questions asked; when things 
were allowed to take their natural course, and Territories grew into 

* The argument presented above against the reopening of the slave trade, is equally 
itrong in favor of enlarging the area of slavery. It matters not whether you glut the 
market by fresh importations from abroad, or by hemming in within narrow limits 
those already here. In cither case you lower greatly the value of the negro, and he is the 
first to suffer from it, physically and morally. 



13 

States without the hot-bed cultivation of Emigrant Aid Societies and 
Slavery Propagation Clubs — the one the natural consequence of the 
other. 

And now, that all the Territory that was ever in doubt has been se- 
cured to freedom — now that the higher law of climate and production, 
a law too hard for even Yankee ingenuity to get around or over, has 
enacted a Missouri Compromise Line that neither North nor South can 
repeal — now is the favorable opening for this plank of my Platform. 
May I not-, then, appeal with confidence to the whole people, infinitesi- 
mals excepted, to plant themselves upon it. Under the operation of 
the law above referred to, four-fifths of the remaining Territory is free- 
dom's ; only one-fifth goes to slavery. And yet the North is clamoring 
for more. Surely she might be content with what she has. Better is 
four-fifths, with good neighborhood, than five-fifths without it. 

3. The Presidential Plank. — This involves an amendment of the 
Constitution, but as it is to get rid of a practical inconvenience in the 
operation of its working machinery, and as it has already been amended 
once in the same article, and for the same purpose, that need not be an 
objection. The object is to do away with the nominating conventions, 
without disturbing the balance of power. Ordinarily, public opinion in 
each of the great parties settles down some weeks, if not months, be- 
fore the meeting of the nominating convention, on three or four candi- 
dates, either of whom would be satisfactory to the rank and file of the 
party, but neither of whom, owing to their own rivalry or that of their 
partisans, or to the fear of their non-availability, can command the 
requisite majority, and all of whom, in consequence, have to be thrown 
overboard, to make way for a compromise candidate. 

My plan proposes to change this state of things by a simple and 
practicable alteration in the working machinery of the Constitution. 
Let the Electoral College, which has long since ceased to answer its 
original design, if, indeed, it ever did answer it, and has come to be, 
practically, a useless and cumbrous piece of machinery, be thrown 
aside. Let each State make choice, in such manner as the Legislature 
thereof may direct, of three persons for President, designating them as 
first, second and third choice, respectively; and let the persons so 
chosen in any State be returned to the President of the Senate of the 
United States, as the first, second, and third choice, respectively, of said 
State, with the number of electoral votes to which the said State would be 
entitled under the present system appended to the name of each of them. 



14 

On the opening of the returns by the President of the Senate in convention 
of the two Houses of Congress, let the one having the greatest aggregate 
number of electoral votes be declared President, If no one person has 
such aggregate greatest number, (as will probably be the case,) then, 
of the two or more having such greatest aggregate number, let the one 
having the greatest number as first choice, be declared President. If 
no one has such greatest number as first choice, then, of the two or 
more having such greatest number, let the one having the greatest 
number as second choice be declared President. In the improbable 
event of the choice being determined by neither of these methods, then, 
of the two or more between whom the choice lies by the last of the 
above methods, let the one having the vote of the greatest number of 
States, as first choice, be declared President. If no one has the vote 
of such greatest number of States, as first choice, then, of the two or 
more having the vote of such greatest number, let the one having the 
vote of the greatest number of States, as second choice, be declared 
President, In the extremely improbable event of the choice being 
determined by none of all the above methods, let the election be made, 
as now, by the House of Representatives. 

The choice of President having thus been determined, from the 
remaining candidates, in like manner, let a first, and a second heir 
presumptive, if I may accommodate the expression, be selected, who 
shall succeed, in the order of choice, to the office of President, in case 
of vacancy by death, resignation, or disqualification.* Let the office of 
Vice-President be abolished, and let the Senate choose its own Presi- 
dent, as the House now chooses its Speaker. 

Such, in brief, is the plan I propose. Some tabular illustrations of 
its practical working will be found in the Appendix. 

Among the advantages that will result from it, if adopted, are the 
follow i ii L r : 

1. It will do away with the expense and the excitement of nominat- 
ing conventions, public opinion, in each of the great parties, settling 
down as heretofore, spontaneously, en the three candidates. 

2. If the election is by the popular vote, as no doubt it will be in 

* I am not gure that it would not bo well to have the election but once in six years, 
and let the successful candidates hold the office two years each, in the order of choice. 
It would at least lessen the rivalry between contending candidates of the same party. 
Nor would the change of Administration be more frequent than has been the change of 
ministry in England, on the average, during the last twenty years. 



15 

■ 

all the States but one, perhaps even in that one, it will enable every 
voter to express on his ballot his preference among the three candidates 
without thereby risking the success of his party. 

3. It will enable each of the three candidates to have his pretensions 
passed upon by the people, and will leave him untrammelled by obliga- 
tions to the wire-pullers, and free, in case of his election, to bestow 
office on the deserving. 

4. In case of no choice by the popular vote, it will decide the elec- 
tion, as now, by States, but not (except in a contingency not likely to 
happen once in a millennium) through representatives chosen two 
years before, and, it may be, on altogether different issues, but 
through a vote fresh from the people — a vote, too, already cast, 
and therefore leaving no room for bargain and corruption. 

Last, not least, it will divide the abuse of partisan editors and stump- 
speakers among three candidates, instead of concentrating it upon one. 
and thereby lessen it, in even a yet greater ratio, in quantity and quality. 

May I not, then, appeal to all, but third-rate politicians, to plant 
themselves on this plank of my platform. 

4. The Administrative Plank. — My other planks are so wide that 
this will have to be narrow or my platform will be too large. Brief 
suggestions, therefore, on two or three points must suffice. 

1. The Post OJjice. — The number of postmasters appointed by the 
President and Senate is 400, and their compensation averages, pro- 
bably, $1, 200. In regard to these, no change is needed. The rest — 
some 28,000 — are appointed by the Postmaster General, and their 
compensation averages some $65 or $70. Let these be chosen by the 
people, the Postmaster General retaining the power of removal — a 
power which he would not be likely to exercise improperly when he 
could only create vacancies, not fill them. Relieve these Postmasters 
of the trouble of keeping accounts, and you take away more than half 
their labor, and they will be glad to do the rest for half price. Give 
them the postage on newspapers, pamphlets and books, which will 
average $15, and the postage on registered letters and the inland 
postage on foreign letters, $5; add $15 in stamps, and you have the 
$35. Here then, is a saving of more than $1,000,000 annually, and 
a drying up, at the same time, of one great source of political cor- 
ruption. 

2. The Patent Office. — The fee to be paid in on application for a 
patent is $30, of which $20 is returned if the application is unsuccess- 



16 

* 

ful; ^10 therefore, pays the expense of examination. Let this sum. 
then, be the fee required to be paid in at the filing of the application, 
and if the invention be found patentable, let the patent be issued on 
payment of the other twenty. Many a poor inventor might scrape 
together ten dollars, who would find it impossible to raise thirty without 
betraying the secret of his invention. 

3. Church and State. — This will seem to many a strange heading, 
and yet it finds a place, legitimately, in a platform for all parties. We 
have, to be sure, no "established" religion, and we want none. But 
the Church has, nevertheless, its relations to the State, here as else- 
where. The Lord's Day is a dies non under the Constitution, being 
expressly excluded from the ten days allowed the President for signing 
a bill or returning it to Congress. If a conscientious Jew, or Seventh- 
Day Baptist were President, and a "bill" should be presented to him 
on Tuesday, he would have to sign it or return it by the Friday of the 
following week, whereas one of any other denomination could retain it 
till Saturday. There is, therefore, no such absolute equality of sects 
before the law as some seem to imagine. The Constitution is a prac- 
tical instrument, and seeks to accomplish its objects in a practical, 
common sense way. 

I refer to this because there seems to be no little confusion on the 
subject in some men's minds, as is shown by a memorial to Congress, 
drawn up by Dr. Wayland, and signed by him and several others, as a 
committee of the Warren (Ft. I.) Baptist Association, complaining of 
the appointment of so many army and navy chaplains from "one de- 
nomination," and that one, "one of the smallest in the land." (I 
quote from memory, but that is the substance.) The Doctor will be 
glad to learn that this last objection is rapidly removing, as the "de- 
nomination" lias already more than two thousand congregations, and is 
doubling every fifteen years. Bis other objection goes upon the 
strange supposition — strange for one who calls himself a Christian 
minister that the offioe is created for the benefit of the office-holder, 
and should therefore be apportioned, pro rata, among the different de- 
nominations. S", I am sure, does not Congress regard the matter, 
[is only warrant for creating the office is the welfare of the service. 
The spirit of the first article of amendments requires the appointing 
power, in making its appointments, to consult, as far as practicable, 
the wants and wishes of those for whose benefit the appointment is 
made. Now, as a general thing, both officers and men prefer litur- 



17 

gical worship. Jack likes the Prayer Book, because it enables him to 
"jaw back." It puts hiin on a level with his fellow-worshippers, and 
makes him feel himself a sharer in the common humanity and the com- 
mon redemption, and seek to gain an interest in the common salvation. 
If it depends on him, he " wont give up the Prayer Book;" it has 
been too often the only plank between his soul and shipwreck. It is 
his Bible in compendium ; the Bible brought practically home to his 
wants and necessities; and he is no true friend of his who would take 
it from him. 

One word upon another subject — Polygamy in the Territories — and I 
have done. That Congress has full power to prohibit it in the District 
of Columbia is admitted on all hands, and not only admitted, but acted 
on. That it has equal power in a Territory, before the organization of 
the Territorial Legislature, I have already shown from Judge Douglas, 
(see above, p. 8,) and after it has conferred that power upon the Legis- 
lature, it may, if it see occasion, resume it in whole or in part: it can- 
not shake off its responsibility by delegating its functions to a subor- 
dinate authority. Congress has also power to legislate upon slavery in 
the District, and has exercised that power on more occasions than one. 
And the power over slavery which it has in the District, it has also in 
the Territories. The difference between the two institutions is this: 
the one is recognized by the Constitution, and sanctioned by nearly 
half the States, and was once sanctioned by them all; the other is not 
recognized by the Constitution, and moreover, is, and has been, from 
the beginning, a penitentiary offence in every State in the Union. , 
Unfriendly legislation, therefore, upon the one, except by general con- 
sent, is against the spirit of the Constitution; unfriendly legislation 
upon the other, even to prohibition, is in keeping with its spirit, and 
demanded by it. And the spirit of the Constitution is the Constitu- 
tion. The letter killeth; the spirit giveth life. 

My platform is complete. Let North and South, Cis-Alleghanian 
and Trans-Alleghanian plant themselves upon it; it will hold them 
all and have room to spare. 



APPENDIX. 

The following tables will illustrate the practical working of the pro- 
posed plan for choosing President, in several contingencies, of which 
the third is the only very probable one, though either of the others 
might happen. 

The letters A, B, C, &c, designate the candidates; the columns 
headed 1st, 2d, 3d, contain the votes given for them as 1st, 2d, and 
3d choice, respectively; the numbers in those columns, appended 
to the several States, or groups of States, designate the number of 
electoral votes to which those States, or groups of States, are severally 
entitled. 

TABLE I. 

WHIG TICKET.* 





A 


1 B 


O 


States. 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 




29 
20 










29 










29 




Mass., N. Jersey.... 










20 






20 




13 






13 
18 









13 




N II Vt M.l 




18 










18 








10 






Ki 




10 

12 










12 






12 



























49 


23 


30 1 102 


31 


41 


.",(! 


102 


22 


38 


42 ! 102 



I purposely designate the tickets by old party names. 



INDEPENDENT TICKET. 





L 


M 


N 


St atfs. 


1st. 


2.1. 


3d. |Total 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 


1st, 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 


New York Ca] 


11 








:::> 


ll 






11 



















11 






11 

7 




11 








7 












7 








1 




■i 




4 
30 










30 






30 


























50 | 15 


37 |)02 


1 18 


GO 


15 | 102 


34 


18 


50 


102 



19 



DEMOCRATIC TICKET. 





X 


Y 


Z 


States. 


1st. 


2d. 1 3d. 


Total 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 




31 
33 








31 










31 




Ky., Tenn., Mo 








33 






33 




12 






12 

10 








12 




10 












10 








13 




13 




13 
3 










3 






3 






























64 


25 


13 


102 


22 


34 


46 


102 


16 


43 


43 


102 



Here, the aggregate vote is equally divided between three tickets. 
X has the highest vote as first choice, and is President. L is first in 
the line of succession, and A second. Thus the three highest candi- 
dates are divided among the three tickets. Two might be on the 
same ticket, but all three could not. 

TABLE II. 

WHIG TICKET 





A 


B 


C 


States. 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 


N. Y., Ky., La 

Del Ohio 


53 
26 










53 










53 












26 






26 




Me.,'Mass.R.i., Ct. 


31 






31 
10 








31 




10 












10 








8 




8 




8 
25 






"N H TVnn Fla 




25 






25 






























79 


39 


35 


153 


41 


"78 


34 


153 


33 


36 


84 


153 



DEMOCRATIC TICKET. 





X 


Y 


Z 


States. 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 


p 


27 
52 










27 










27 




N. J., Tex., Ind., 
111., Mich., Iowa, 










52 






52 




23 






23 

48 








23 




Ga. Miss. Ala. Ark. 




48 












48 








3 




3 




3 


























79 


26 


48 


153 


71 


27 


55 


153 


3 


100 


50 


153 



20 

Here the aggregate vote is equally divided between the two tickets. 
The vote as first choice also is equally divided between A and X, but 
A has the highest number as second choice, and is President. X is 
first in the line of succession, and Y second. 

TABLE III. 

WHIG TICKET. 





A 


B 


c 


States. 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 


1st. 


2d. 


3,1. 


Total 


N. Y., N. C, La., 

Tonn Ky .. 


75 
31 










"75 










1 "> 




Maryland, Ohio 

Maine, Mass., R. I., 










31 






31 




31 






31 

10 








31 








10 












10 






















106 


31 


10 


147 


41 


75 


31 


1-17 




41 


106 


147 



DEMOCRATIC TICKET. 







X 




Y 


Z 


States. 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 1st. 


2d. 


3d. ITotaJ 


1st. 2d. 


3d. 


Total 




27 
48 








27 








27 




N..I. In.]. 111. Mich 








18 






48 






23 






.V! 








23 




Ga. Mi: Ala. Tex.. 

Ark.jfris.Mo.Cal. 

[•'In < frcaoD 




52 




















6 






6 




G 

:; 










3 
55 




3 








75 



















2!) 


75 


30 




150 


9 


loo 


50 


1 59 



II.tc the entire Democratic tiokel ia elected. X and Y have an 
equal number of rotes aa first choice, bul Y has the Largest :i^ Becond, 
and i- therefore President. X is first in the line of succession and Z 
second. 

Had Pennsylvania given her 27 votes i<> \Y. as third choice, 'A would 
have been defeated, ami A, the highest as first choice on the Whig 
ticket, would lia\< liri'ii second in the line of succession. 



21 



TABLE IT. 

DEMOCRATIC TICKET. 





X 


Y 


Z 


States. 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Total 


1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


Tota\ 




17 
36 










17 










17 




Oregon, Penn. Fla. 










36 






36 




Ga. Ark. Ind. Wis. 
Cal 


36 






36 

17 








36 




Ala., S. C 




17 












17 




N. J., Del., Miss.... 




17 




17 




17 
36 






Va. 111. Mich. Iowa. 




36 






36 










53 




















53 


53 


159 


53 


53 


53 


159 


53 


53 


53 


159 



Here the Whig ticket remaining as in the preceding table, the De- 
mocratic ticket is elected; but the vote in the aggregate, and also as 
first and second, and of course, therefore, as third choice, is equally 
divided among the three candidates. The vote by States, also, as first 
choice, is equally divided among the three, each having seven States; 
but, as second choice X has eight States, Y seven, and Z six. X is, 
therefore, President, and Y is first in the line of succession, and Z 
second. 



JOHN P. DES FORGES, 

f xmin, l§nl&dhx, 3Mmn f 

-A.1ST3D DEALER I3ST 

COINS, MEDALS, «fco. 
12 LIG-HT STREET, Opposite Fountain Hotel, 

(T& (L IT ri %® I, 
BLANK BOOKS Ruled and Bound to any Pattern. 
FOREIGN BOOKS IMPORTED TO ORDER. 



I want and will give Twenty-Five Cents each for good impressions 
of UNITED STATES CENTS of 1793, 1799, 1804; /also HALF 
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I also want Washington Cents of 1791 and 1792. Colonial Coppers, 
Medals and Metallic Store Cards. Persons sending me Coins from a 
distance will have the value remitted by return of Mail. 

J. P. DES FORGES, 

IS LIGHT STEEET, 

OPPOSITE FOUNTAIN HOTEL, 

©AffflSH®iB!i<» 



r 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 895 840 8 



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ANTIQUARIAN BOOK ST R 



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f rintar, laokMln, Stationer, 



! 



AisnD oe^vlek, ir<r 



COINS. MEDALS, &c. 



12 LIGHT STREET, Opposite Fountain Hotel, I 



\ 



, 



■ A L V (I GQ Owl E, 

BLANK BOOKS Ruled and Bound to any Pattern. I 
FOREIGN BOOKS IMPORTED TO ORDER. 

I want and will give Twenty- Five Cents kacii for good impressions t 
ol l MTl.h BTATB8 CENTS of 1793, 1799, 1804; also HALF 
CENTS of L798, 1796, 1799, 1802, L831, 1836, 1840 to 1848', 185-2. "] 
t also want Washington Cento of IT'.M and 17'.)-J. Colonial Coppers,^ 
Mi-daF and Metallio 8tore Cards. Persona sending me Coins from a^ 
distance will bave the value remitted bv return of Mail.' 




P. DES FORQES, 

12 LIGHT STZFtEET, 
OPPOSITE FOUNTAIN HOTBL, 

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